Peyton Newell says it felt "like when you got put in timeout when you were a little kid."
Luke Gifford described it as a "buzzkill, to the say the least."
Most Nebraska football fans to a large extent can relate to the two Husker players' feelings in the wake of Saturday night's season-opening game against Akron being canceled because of lightning.
Fans, though, weren't actually suited up for on-field competition. They didn't go through warmups. They hadn't endured months of arduous conditioning followed by a grueling August of preseason camp. As for Gifford, a senior outside linebacker, he missed the final five games of 2017 and all of spring practice with a hip injury. Voted one of four captains by teammates last week, Gifford was ready to continue an impressive comeback story.
Then came the thunderstorms and accompanying lightning show.
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"Everybody was pumped and excited, and then to have that happen is pretty frustrating," said Gifford, a Lincoln Southeast graduate. "But I'm pretty proud of the guys and how everyone handled it. And then man, we had a great day of work today (Monday). I think we can take some good out of it. Everyone's feeling fresh still and ready to roll this week."
Added Newell, a backup nose guard: "We were so ready to play. So prepared. But that’s behind us now and we’re ready to attack Colorado."
Nebraska now gears up for a 2:30 p.m. Saturday home game against former Big 12 rival CU (1-0), which crushed Colorado State 45-13 on Friday in Denver. Husker coach Scott Frost said he would prefer NU also had a game under its belt, but that his team would attack preparations just as it did last week for Akron.
As lightning started dancing Saturday night within an eight-mile radius of Memorial Stadium, a Nebraska official walked briskly onto the field at 7:15 p.m. and waved players into their respective locker rooms. Akron had just booted the opening kickoff into the end zone for a touchback. Nebraska's offense, led by true freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez, took the field but never ran a play.
It wasn't until 9:55 p.m that the game was called off for the night. Between 7:15 and 9:55, Gifford said, "We were honestly just sitting there. There wasn't much we could do. Mess around in the locker room and try to stay focused. That's tough, especially because you never know what's going to happen with the weather. We could've been back out there. We were trying to keep focused but also just stay loose and kind of have a good time.
"It was definitely hard with all the emotions throughout the day. Sitting in the (team) hotel all day waiting for a night game, and then to have it be canceled, it sucks."
Nebraska players were sent home at about 10 p.m. as various school, Big Ten and FOX officials discussed contingency plans for playing the game Sunday morning. Once those plans were scuttled, cancellation of the game was officially announced at 10:28, with Husker players being informed via text message.
"It's kind of rough when you've prepared all offseason for that," said Nebraska nose guard Mick Stoltenberg, also a team captain. "Man, it was bizarre just sitting in the locker room waiting that out. I don't know. But here we are. We'll get the thing rolling Saturday."
A Sunday game would've felt "weird," he said.
"We wouldn't have been able to stay in the (team) hotel the night before, so everybody would've been in a different area," Stoltenberg said. "When we left the stadium, the plan was to go home and go to bed and be here at 6 o'clock in the morning for breakfast and get ready for the game. But shortly after I got home, with all the traffic and everything, I got a message that it had been canceled for sure."
He wasn't surprised by the cancellation, he said.
"A Sunday game didn't seem like something that would be that easy to handle logistically with travel and everything for those (Akron) guys," he said.
So, after a weekend that Stoltenberg characterized as "bizarre," it felt good to get back to work Monday and stop thinking about the ill-fated Akron game.
"We're glad to be onto a new thing," he said. "I think guys are antsy. They were really looking forward to Saturday. They were fired up and ready to go today."